"Hobbit" Was Own Species, Not Diseased Human, Brain Study Says

A tiny, hobbit-like human that lived on a remote Indonesian island 18,000 years ago was a member of its own unique species and was not a diseased human, according to a new study of the hominin's skull.

When discovery of the so-called hobbit—technically known as LB1—was announced in 2004, scientists hailed it as a new species: Homo floresiensis.